Cambodia Takes Top Billing: Angoulême Pays Tribute to Khmer Cinema
- Editorial team
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Nine films, four decades, one country in the spotlight: the 19th edition of the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival has chosen Cambodia as its guest of honour, and it was in Paris, in the salons of the Cambodian royal embassy, that the news was made official on 9 July.
An announcement made from the Cambodian embassy in Paris
The choice of venue was no accident. It was in the salons of the Résidence Charles Floquet, seat of the Cambodian royal embassy in Paris's 7th arrondissement, that Marie-France Brière and Dominique Besnehard, general delegates of the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival (FFA), unveiled the broad outlines of their upcoming edition on 9 July. Alongside them, the Kingdom's ambassador to France, Luy David, expressed his pride at seeing Cambodia singled out in this way — recognition that carries particular weight just months before the 20th Francophonie Summit, which Phnom Penh will host in November.
The ambassador was keen to place this tribute within a broader legacy: that of Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk, the late King-Father, one of the founding fathers of the Francophonie and himself a prolific filmmaker. Fittingly, the Angoulême retrospective opens with one of his own films, La Joie de vivre, shot in 1969 — a choice that immediately ties Cambodian cinema to the kingdom's political history.
Nine films, from the Cambodia of kings to the Cambodia of today
In practical terms, the tribute takes the form of a programme of nine films either Cambodian or shot in Cambodia, four of them by Rithy Panh, the French-Cambodian director whose body of work has turned the country's memory — and its wounds — into cinematic material. Alongside Les Gens de la rizière, Un soir après la guerre and Un barrage contre le Pacifique, Angoulême will screen Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot, his most recent feature, selected at Cannes in 2024 and starring Irène Jacob and Grégoire Colin.
A festival, two tributes
Cambodia won't be the only figure honoured in Angoulême this summer. The festival will also pay a heartfelt tribute to Nathalie Baye, who died in April, through eleven films retracing her career. It's a pairing the organisers openly embrace: two memories, two cinemas, brought together under one roof from 24 to 29 August.
A competition open to the whole French-speaking world
Cambodia, though, occupies only part of the programme in what is otherwise a highly international edition. Chaired by actor Franck Dubosc, alongside jury members including Marie-Christine Barrault, Déborah Lukumuena and Jean-Paul Salomé, the official jury will judge ten feature films from Rwanda, the Central African Republic, Quebec, Belgium and France. Around thirty films in total, in competition and in preview, have already been announced — with the list to be finalised by the end of July — alongside the festival's regular sidebars: Les Flamboyants, Les Nouveaux Regards, Les Premiers Rendez-vous, and the Bijoux de famille strand, drawn this year from distributor KMBO's catalogue.
This 19th edition also carries a renewed media ambition: an original theme composed by Benjamin Biolay for the opening and closing ceremonies, a web-based television channel launched in partnership with France Télévisions, and a closing night broadcast live on France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine and TV5Monde.
A rendezvous ahead of the Francophonie Summit
For Cambodia, this spotlight in Angoulême is more than a cinematic showcase. It fits into a broader diplomatic and cultural sequence, coming just months before Phnom Penh hosts the 20th Francophonie Summit in November — two moments that, each in their own way, recall the long and singular bond between the Khmer kingdom and the French language, from Norodom Sihanouk to today's filmmakers.
The Angoulême Francophone Film Festival runs from 24 to 29 August 2026, across several of the city's landmark venues: the Cinéma CGR, the Théâtre d'Angoulême, and the Espace Carat.
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